Know How... 10

Upgrade Your Retina MacBook Pro

September 6 2012

The Retina MacBook Pro may be very locked down, but you can upgrade the SSD to a higher capacity by yourself. A new kit from OWC makes it super-easy.

Materials List
- Retina MBP
- OWC Aura Pro ($580, less than than the Apple Upgrade, but you get two drives at the end)
- Pentalobe Screwdriver (included in the Aura Pro kit)
- Torx Screwdriver (also included in the Auro Pro kit)
- External enclosure for old SSD (comes with the kit if you order before Sept. 30th)

SSD Installation Instructions
- Turn off your MBP and turn it over.
- Remove the screws. Keep track of the screws because there are three different sizes.
- Disconnect the battery with your nail or tool.
- Then remove the SSD, it's secured by one Torx screw.
- Install the new SSD, it only fits one way
- Reconnect the battery
- Replace the cover

OS Installation Instructions
If you've got an enclosure: (information from MacSales.com/Format)
- Place your original drive in an external enclosure.
- Boot to the recovery partition on your original drive by holding down Command-R and starting up.
- Use Disk Utility to Restore to your new drive.
- Restart or Boot your Mac to the new drive."

Internet Recovery (from Apple.com)
- If you happen to encounter a situation in which you cannot start from the Recovery System, such as your hard drive stopped responding or you installed a new hard drive without OS X installed, new Mac models introduced after public availability of OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion, automatically use the OS X Internet Recovery feature if the Recovery System (Command-R method above) doesn't work.
- OS X Internet Recovery lets you start your Mac directly from Apple's Servers. The system runs a quick test of your memory and hard drive to ensure there are no hardware issues."